Vikings victorious as Luton lose their way

A try and two penalties secured the Vikings first away win for this season.

The away side won the reverse fixture 36-16 in September and Luton slumped to their fourth defeat in five games. Cold conditions and a waterlogged pitch didn’t help the quality of the game either as the ball often slipped out from the players’ hands. Luton winger Ewan McGonagall was recalled to the starting line-up following academic commitments at university.

Luton scored a penalty through Rick Hobbs in the opening minutes before Walsham were awarded one of their own nine minutes later. Henry Dewing equalised before the Vikings pulled ahead, scoring another penalty in the 23rd minute.

At the start of the first half, the Vikings found space down the left flank and made full use of it. Fullback Scott Aspinall tried desperately to stop the oncoming Pieter Claussen but Shane Jance van Vuuren was on hand to score the try. Although Luton battled hard they could not find away through.

A dejected coach, Chris Parr said after the game: “We can’t use Christmas as an excuse. Walsham also had Christmas and travelled a long way so it would be a poor excuse.”

“It’s difficult to put into words how disappointed I am. The team are disappointed also, we really should be performing better. We have made a commitment to improve results but that also comes with improving the quality of our training. We must improve “

With promotion now unlikely, the most realistic target for the team is to ensure they finish in the top half of the table.

However speedy winger Tesh Edwards was thinking positively after the game, as he stated: “We are still missing a few key players, that’s why it is a bit hit and miss, despite the intensity being there, finishing off our moves proved futile”.

He added: “Once we get the injured group of players back, we can aim to finish in a top five positions, and perhaps even shift our attention to the East Midlands Cup, which if we win, we can say it was a successful season”.

Luton face the mammoth task of playing away to the League leaders Colchester new weekend.

Match reporter Farhan Daw